Champions meet first at Batson, then in winner’s circle

Ryan Armour started Tournament Week of the Sanderson Farms Championship by visiting the focus of the state’s premier PGA TOUR event: patients in Batson Children’s Hospital.

That Tuesday, Armour, who went on to win the tournament, met Samantha York, another champion, during his visit to the hospital’s hemotology-oncology floor. Samantha’s no stranger to challenges, but she keeps a champion’s attitude and a winning smile. Tucked into rainbow-colored, tiger-striped linens, Samantha, quite the conversationalist, kept Armour and his fellow golfers, Austin Cook and Shawn Stefani, entertained.

“It’s good to know that what we’re doing out here and all the charity dollars that are raised go to such a good cause, because I saw it firsthand this week with the patients, and one of the patients I met is here on the front row. (Samantha) was an inspiration to us all.”

Tournament host Century Club Charities donated $1.125 million from the 2016 event to Friends of Children’s Hospital. In 2016, Friends made a pledge of $20 million to the Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi.